Bid to stop visiting team draws flak

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Amritsar, Punjab: The SGPC has drawn flak from various quarters over the tight security arrangements it had made to stop HSGMC president Jagdish Singh Jhinda from entering Akal Takht even as the latter himself opted to stay out.

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh said, “It is a very old tradition. An individual excommunicated from the panth cannot enter Akal Takht.”

A section of intellectuals, however, say nobody can be stopped from paying obeisance inside Akal Takht. Former SGPC secretary Manjeet Singh Calcutta said, “As per the tradition, an excommunicated person cannot urge a priest inside Akal Takht to perform ‘ardaas’ for him. Besides, the ‘karah parshad’ offered by him will not be accepted. But, I don’t think there is any precedent in which an excommunicated individual was stopped from paying obeisance at Akal Takht.”

Noted Sikh scholar Ashok Singh Bagrian said stopping any individual from paying obeisance is against the ‘maryada’ of a gurdwara.